Hello, I have just purchased a cable modem this month...And I have subsequently set- up a nice little home network with 4 computers on a little LinkSys Router/Hub, and life is good. However, I have been reading some about security, and apparently, particularly when you setup on a cable modem, you expose yourself to the outside world and hackers etc..which I understand. My question is this, how can I, or is it possible at all, tell when someone is accessing my computer or network. Is there an administration utility or a monitor. Secondly, I am thinking about getting a personal firewall. Any suggestions? I know these hubs come with software (light) versions of firewalls but I have read that they are not too verbose. Thanks alot for the help.

Just as kind of an aside, before anyone recommends using netstat.exe, here is the thing....When I try to run it, it blows out. In other words it starts to run, shows my IP and then the entire command window disappears. Wierd. In addition, I was wondering if there were any other types of monitors out there. Thanks again.

hi, Depends on you, if u have budget limit, then get a firewall (software), if u have more limit in term of money, then invest in firewall (hardware), I think all hardware firewall is the same, it's just the matter of user friendly or not. If u need more secure network, get a IDS, it helps a lot in managing your internal or external network. For me, I think Cyclops or ISS will do. But in case u need a free IDS (software), get snort. :) but snort does not have a lot info out there. Good luck

Your LinkSys router will give you a mad amount of protection compared to just a software firewall. However these don't block outgoing connections so you should still use a software firewall to block unwanted info from getting out. Let me put it this way, except for the ports I have forwarded in the router no one has ever gotten past my router to ping or probe my computer, yet. BTW dialups are no safer than cable modems, its just in cable your IP may not change for months on end, and if someone wanted to they could take their time trying to circumvent your security. Thats a big if. You will most likely never become the direct victim of such attack. More than likely you are just probed all the time by virii/worms, which your router will effectively block.

Hey guys, Thanks for all the info. I really appreciate it.